The gist
- Final: UTSA 42, Tulane 19. Third road win of the season, record to 7-1.
- Six takeaways to three. UTSA's plus-three turnover margin was the game, cleanly.
- Owen Pewee: three sacks. One player bent the entire pass-rush grade curve.
- But Daniels went 104 on 8 touches. Thirteen yards a carry to one back is the same chunk-run gap Navy found. We did not fix the defense — we out-played the turnover column.
The recap
The Roadrunners went down to New Orleans and ran the Green Wave off the field on Saturday night, 42-19. UTSA is 7-1 with the win and 3-1 on the road, and the schedule has stopped feeling fragile.
The scoreboard is a lie, in the same direction it was a lie against Rice and Navy, just louder. Tulane opened the game with a 22-yard Anthony Rogers interception return for a touchdown on UTSA's first offensive snap and had a 7-0 lead before anyone had a drink. The Roadrunners answered with 21 unanswered — a one-yard A'Marion Peterson plunge, a 16-yard Peterson scamper, and a four-yard Owen McCown keeper. Tulane cut it to 21-13 at halftime on a pair of Cooper Helmke field goals from 38 and 33.
The second half is where the 23-point margin lives. Will Henderson III punched one in from nine on the opening drive of the third, Brandon High Jr. followed with a five-yarder a few minutes later, and 35-13 was functional. Tulane answered on a seven-yard Johnnie Daniels run early in the fourth (two-point try failed) to make it 35-19 before Mark Wiepert iced it with a one-yard touchdown with two minutes left.
Six rushing touchdowns, five different backs. Henderson led the ground game with 102 yards on 15 carries and a score. Peterson got two in the red zone. McCown, High, and Wiepert each punched one in. The passing game was 16-of-23 for 173 and two interceptions out of McCown — one of them the house call that put us behind to open the night. David Amador II led the receivers at 5 for 47.
| UTSA | Tulane | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Yards | 396 | 332 |
| Rushing Yards | 223 | 67 |
| Passing Yards | 173 | 265 |
| 3rd Down | 12-16 | 7-15 |
| Turnovers | 3 | 6 |
| Time of Possession | 35:19 | 24:41 |
What people are saying
The team site's own recap, Roadrunners roll Green Wave on Saturday night, led on the turnover-fest and Pewee's three-sack night — it is the one performance everyone covering the beat is talking about. UTSA also wore helmet decals in tribute to Technical Sergeant Ian Patterson on Saturday night; worth noting even in a win column.
Our take
We said last week, after beating Navy 38-34, that this defense wasn't going to fix itself. One week later the Roadrunners held an opponent to 19 points and forced six turnovers, and we are going to tell you the defense still isn't fixed.
Six takeaways against three turnovers is not a plan. Pewee playing like this every week is a plan.
Johnnie Daniels ran eight times for 104 yards. That is 13 yards a carry to one back from a 3-4 Tulane team, and it is the same chunk-run gap Navy opened. Trace Johnson threw for 265 against us on the same tape. Pewee just got home three times and six Tulane possessions ended in a turnover instead of a scoring threat. That is a day, not a trend. The next team up will study the film and conclude what we are concluding: run the ball at the second level.
The offense, meanwhile, is finding an identity worth defending. Six rushing touchdowns from five different runners means a defense cannot key on Henderson, cannot sell out on Peterson in short yardage, and cannot ignore McCown as a run threat on the keeper. That is a hard offense to game-plan for in a short prep week. McCown's two interceptions and the opening pick-six are the thing to clean up, but the lid is on the right concern.
Hot take: Owen Pewee is the best football player on this roster in 2026, and the next person who tries to tell you it is a skill-position guy owes you a steak dinner. Three sacks on a day Tulane was going to throw to climb back in is not a highlight package, it is a game plan all by himself.
Next up
Florida Atlantic on November 5, on the road. We'll have a preview mid-week. The one marker to carry into it: if the Owls' lead back averages more than five yards a carry on fifteen-plus touches, our run defense did not fix a thing — the turnover column saved us at Tulane, and you cannot save a season at 13 yards a touch forever. And if you are going to shout about it either way, you may as well put a pick on it while you are at it.